The Demon Lord's Bride (BL)
Chapter 291: Living in a fairytale is nice as long as the Demon Lord is a gentleman

Chapter 291: Living in a fairytale is nice as long as the Demon Lord is a gentleman

"Baby...it’s been more than a week now, when will you wake up?"

I caressed the condensed mana ball on my lap. It had gotten less murky than before, which meant Jade was steadily digesting the energy contained inside. But it was such a slow pace, different from before. Perhaps because instead of blindly eating it as energy, Jade was using the energy to support the meditational state of its evolution process, absorbing the magical code contained in each strand of mana.

Or so D’Ara told me. She checked in again through Eruha after three days, and said she’d continue to do so until Jade was awake.

Again, it was such a relief, to have a connection.

"Do I really need to wait for a month?"

"Is this enough, Young Master? Should we place it here?" the guards’ voice turned my attention away from the little bird, and I looked at the dozen or so potted plants that they brought to Jade’s room.

"Yes, thank you," I nodded.

The potted plants were arranged circularly around the hanging chair which I often used when I played with Jade in the room. I caressed one of the plants, sending my mana, and whispering my request. The plants wriggled, extending branches and foliage toward the chair. They met in the center to create a new, more comfortable cradle for the mana sphere.

Slowly, and carefully, I put the sphere and Jade on the cradle. The door to the room creaked open just as did so, and footsteps approached me in a familiar rhythm. Cold hands circled my waist and cold lips were on my shoulder.

"That looks comfortable," Natha whispered, taking my fingers in his other hand.

"You think so?" I leaned into his chest and sighed. "I don’t want Jade to fall when it’s over."

"The kid is tenacious, don’t worry too much,"

I turned my head to look at him, pouting. "That’s not how it works. I’ll still worry even though the whole world tells me not to!"

Natha chuckled despite my tantrum, his cool touch and light voice shed my anxiety a little bit. "Alright, I’m sorry. I won’t tell you not to worry anymore," he reached up and stroked the black pendant above my chest. "So why don’t we start feeding your other child, mm?"

"It’s your child too," I pursed my lips sheepishly from the embarrassment of being too temperamental. It seemed like the emptiness from Jade’s absence had been piling up into frustration.

"Mm, yes," Natha nodded with a mischievous smile on his face. "Now let me see my child."

I couldn’t help but laugh at the way he asked for Shwa like a daylight burglar. We took a seat on the nice indoor-grown grass beside Jade’s cradle, and I took out another cradle that I made after coming back from Gluttony just for Shwa. So now, rather than sitting inside the treasure room, I took Shwa everywhere with me--well, as long as I wore the pendant.

I put the large, egg-shaped bud in front of me and caressed the patterned surface. Natha put his hands above mine and like an instinct, our mana started to flow and entangle, covering the bud before getting absorbed inside. The soft vibration and buzzing sound that marked our child’s delight spread through our fingers.

"So I can’t tell you not to worry, right?" Natha suddenly said as we did our routine. "In that case, all I can do is try to distract you from that worry."

"What do you..."

"Let’s have a date."

I looked up, blinking in surprise. It was fortunate that I had been doing this feeding ritual a lot so my body just moved by instinct. Otherwise, the mana flow would get cut because my mind stopped thinking for a second.

"D-date? Really?"

Natha tilted his head and smiled subtly. "Wasn’t it you who asked me to have a date every now and then?"

"Well...I did, didn’t I?"

I nodded, giggles slowly surfacing on my lips. I could feel his cold lips on my temple, vibrating softly from small laughter. "What do you want to do?" he asked. "Should we walk around the city in disguise? Or do you want to do something else? It’s fine if you just want to cuddle in bed--"

"That’s you, isn’t it?" I glanced at the smirking Demon Lord, who didn’t bother to refute it.

Geez, my Lord--it wasn’t a bad idea, but probably not something appropriate for your future child to hear, you know.

"So?" he asked instead, rubbing my hand above the bud.

"Hmm..." I leaned back on his chest to get comfortable while contemplating my choice.

Walking around in disguise seemed fun, but I felt guilty about visiting a crowded place without Jade. In that case...

"Can we go pick a place for Vrida’s nest around the Lair?" I looked up and made a pleading gaze. "Let’s ride her and let her choose a place? Would that be alright?"

"I don’t see why not," he shrugged.

"What about your work?"

"You told me to take days off," he said. "Malta will like it; putting more work on Lesta as punishment."

My laugh came out at the same time with another buzzing sound that marked the end of our feeding time. We stopped sending our mana and I patted the bud. "Are you satisfied?" there was a soft buzz for the last time before Shwa went totally silent.

"Then," Natha shifted and stood while pulling me up. "Shall we go?"

* * *

It felt different flying with Vrida without hearing Jade squealing joyfully in the front seat--namely, Vrida’s head.

Rather than fun and exciting, riding with Natha behind me toward the faraway tower felt...romantic--which was the essence of a date, I guess. Perhaps because of that, Natha had no hesitation in pulling me close to his chest, and peppered my neck with a kiss; right there in the sky, taking advantage of the little bird’s absence.

It was my first time going to the Lair with something other than the portal. I hadn’t even used the land path, although it was still on my wish list. Wouldn’t it be ridiculous if I had no idea how to get back home just because there was no flying mount I could use?

The Lair itself was situated on the border between the Realm of Greed and the Realm of Nature. A lush hill surrounded by a dense, colorful forest with trees that were hard to befriend with and a jagged cliff on the other side. At the foot of the hill were empty fields that ended in various farmlands. Due to its close proximity to the Realm of Nature, the hill and the forest weren’t too affected by the changing of the weather, and still pampered us with a magnificent view.

Especially looking at it from above. It instantly refreshed my mind from the sadness of having Jade sleeping for days with no sign of waking up soon. And now that I saw it from above, the tower looked even more beautiful and majestic than usual.

Also, it looked more and more like a tower used to kidnap a princess.

I giggled as the thought entered my mind. In those kinds of stories, I recalled dragons were also involved; whether they were used to kidnap the princess, or used by the hero to save the princess. Now that I rode a wyvern with a Demon Lord behind me, I kind of feel like the princess in the story.

Wait. "I’m technically a prince, ain’t I?" I muttered, and Natha caught it.

"And I’m technically a kidnapper?" he whispered, as if reading my senseless thought--well, I knew he could, although he blocked himself from doing it to me.

"Hmm...yes! You’re the Demon Lord who kidnaps a prince," I laughed, delving into these ’ what-ifs’ and role-playing scenarios we often did since we got back from D’Ara’s abode.

"I see," I felt him nodding behind me. "And then the prince falls in love with the kidnapper Demon Lord, and the story turns from fairytale to Stockholm syndrome case."

Again, I laughed and slapped the arms circling my waist. "Is there a name to call that syndrome here?"

"No, perhaps we should come up with a name and write a study about it," he said in a serious tone, although I knew it was only a jest. "But if I’m that Demon Lord, I wouldn’t kidnap you."

"Really?" I turned my head slightly to look at his face. The silver eyes were looking in the direction of the tower, but not at the tower itself. I realized then that he was looking at the realm of nature beyond.

"Yes. I’d come to your place with everything that I have, asking for your hand in marriage," he smiled teasingly, but I could sense a trace of sincerity in there, and somehow knew this demon would really do it.

Was I living with my family in that scenario? Ah, no...since I was supposed to be a prince, I was probably living in the palace, right? The palace of the fallen Druid Kingdom, Saelica.

"Do you think they’ll allow it? We didn’t know each other, my Lord," I covered my mouth, letting out a villainous laugh.

"Royal proposals seldom go through the knowing each other phase. It is done after the engagement itself--or even after the wedding happened," Natha said with a smirk. "I just need to woo you into falling in love with me."

"I see..." I rubbed Vrida to steer her into the cliff side of the hill instead of the tower. "Well, if it’s you, I think I’ll fall in love quickly anyway."

"What a reassuring thought," Natha chuckled and pecked my cheek, before suddenly turning silent. When he spoke again, his voice sounded more solemn. "Hmm...now that I think about it, I should still do that."

"Do what?"

"Visiting your kin to tell them I’m going to marry you," he smiled deeply, and I could infer from that that he meant to ’tell’ them, not ’ask’ them.

Not that I would care what their answer was.

"Speaking of that..." his left hand released my waist to hold my hand and lifted my arm. Just as my hand was parallel to my eyes, a clump of mana in the shape of a green bird swooped down from the sky and landed on my palm.

"Oh?"

The bird chirped once and shuddered, before dispersing into countless light particles. In its place, now lying on my palm, was a letter.

Finally, a reply from Amarein.

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